Upcoming FCCMH/FCBH Board Meetings

The number one priority for the Florida Council for Community Mental Health and its member organizations is to ensure that Floridians have access to a comprehensive and effective system of coordinated mental health and substance abuse treatment services.

Our member organizations are located throughout the state and offer a wide array of treatments and supportive services tailored to meet individual and family needs. In addition to more traditional mental health and substance abuse services and interventions, Council members assist individuals and families in addressing the social determinants of health, such as: adequate health care, affordable housing, job training and employment, food insecurity, peer support, mentoring and other supports needed to achieve sustained health and recovery.

Treatments and supportive services are provided in a variety of locations, including: Community Mental Health Centers, substance use disorder rehabilitation programs, inpatient treatment programs, community health centers, mutual support groups and peer-run organizations, schools, jails and prisons, and at home through telehealth or home-based services.

Mental health has been defined as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”; however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration estimates that only about 17% of U.S adults are considered to be in a state of optimal mental health. The Florida Council for Community Mental Health is committed to addressing that gap by providing effective, high quality behavioral health services and supports so that more Floridians can achieve a state of optimal overall health.

Telehealth solves psychiatrist shortage for Impower, and much more

Telehealth solves psychiatrist shortage for Impower, and much moreTelemedicine technology has reduced patient no-shows by 50 percent, limited new patient wait times to less than 48 hours, and saved $150,000 in overhead in six months.Read the article online here.
(12.11.18)

College Sports’ Newest Need: Psychologists

Novmber is National Adoption Awareness Month: Building Strong Foster and Adoptive Families

More than 400,000 American children are in foster care, and 25,000 of them are in Florida. Their average length of stay is 25.3 months, according to the Ackerman Institute for the Family – and they have rates of post-traumatic stress disorder similar to veterans of war.Read the story on the WFSU website here.
(11.08.18)

Revised CAT provider map is now available

Nemours is excited to release its new “Early Childhood and Medicaid: Opportunities for Partnering” paper

The paper explains how the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs function to practitioners in the early childhood (EC) sector. The paper also explores how partnerships between the ECE sector and Medicaid and CHIP can be formed to lessen the impacts of social determinants of health on child health outcomes. This work was funded in part by the Alliance for Early Success.

Nemours is currently working with several states to improve coordination between the EC sector and Medicaid and CHIP programs. Our experience has taught us that state EC advocates and policy makers need additional information on how to partner with the state agencies that insure millions of low-income children. In this paper, we have identified strategies for engaging Medicaid and CHIP staff around child outcomes and present examples of successful partnerships. While Medicaid and CHIP programs are focused on their core mission of providing health coverage, partnering and having them at the table can help ensure that scarce resources from both sectors are coordinated in support of children’s overall well-being.Download the paper here.
(10.26.18)